Dick Fraley’s ill health doesn’t stop him from breathing life into children’s books.

He continues to visit second-grade classrooms in Lawrence and McLouth to spread the gospel of literacy despite struggling with congestive heart problems.

“I’m getting to be the oldest second-grader in Lawrence,” said Fraley, a 69-year-old retiree who is a regular volunteer reader at Langston Hughes School in Lawrence and McLouth School in Jefferson County.

Wednesday was a typical day for Fraley, who is often joined on his reading rounds by his wife, Madge. They grabbed a handful of books suitable for emerging readers and headed to June Buxton’s second-grade class at Langston Hughes.

“We usually read two books,” he said. “I read one, and she reads the other. We thoroughly enjoy the exposure with the kids. It brightens our day.”

It’s a routine Fraley would loathe to relinquish, but there’s no assurance he will be at either elementary school when a new crop of second-graders arrives in August. He had quintuple heart bypass surgery in 1990 and now carries a portable oxygen supply in his battle against congestive heart problems.

“I plan to do it as long as my health permits,” he said.

He draws upon the enthusiasm of students and his experience as a broadcaster and minister to add voice to “The Cat in the Hat,” “Magic School Bus,” “Flat Stanley,” “Junie B. Jones” and other books while little boys and girls huddle around his feet.

It all started four years ago when the Lawrence Breakfast Optimist Club was asked to recruit volunteer readers for Sunset Hill School in Lawrence. Fraley was put in charge of the project, and he signed up along with a handful of other folks.

He was assigned to Buxton’s second-grade classroom at Sunset Hill.

“When she moved to Langston Hughes two years ago, she asked if I would come with her. I didn’t hesitate,” Fraley said.

He’s just as committed to the second-grade class in McLouth, where his daughter, Linda Martin, teaches.

This elementary niche suits him, because he can witness rapid growth in reading skills in just one year.

“When they come in, some can barely read,” he said. “You see such a tremendous increase in ability.”

Fraley said more community members should find a way to contribute to public schools.

If a person has ability  no matter what, he said, schools can make use of it.

“With me, I’ve always been an oral reader,” he said. “That’s just what I’m good at.”